Betas

I've never had "beta readers" before. These are folks, usually other writers, who read your manuscript and make suggestions to improve it.  I was a little nervous because I had no experience with this.  I did think that if I didn't like their advice I could blow it off but still, it was a bit nerve-wracking as this was the first time anyone would have seen my work outside my circle of family and friends who proofread for me.  This is for my "work in progress" Gods of Strife, the fourth book in the Adept Series.

I got the first beta back yesterday.  And I have to say, it was a good experience. The woman pointed out a few typos and misspellings.  But she also had constructive criticism of some poor sentence construction and confusing things.

I didn't take all her advice.  If the other two betas say similar things, I'll look into it.  But some stuff I thought was a little like "if you'd read it more carefully, you'd understand what I'm trying to say here."  And she said she was still worried a character was safe after my main character had practically said, "Oh, yes, he's safe now (and in bed with a woman)."  If the other two betas have similar concerns, I'll look it over.

So over all, I'm finding beta reads to be useful.